They surrender and then there is a negotiation of terms. In some cases the enemy is not permitted to have a standing army after the war. Partly because it is not real terms of surrender if they only mean to call time for a while, reconstitute and re-attack. It is a period during which there can either be terms that will lead to lasting peace, or terms that will lead to continuance of fighting.
There is a period during which the enemy has "given up" and no longer considers itself at war. According to your definition, we are still at war at that point.
At what point are we not at war?
|